


Transmission

by autisticblueteam



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Agender Agent Maine, Agender Character, Autistic Character, Autistic Character(s), Fluff and Humor, Gen, Non-Binary Agent Conneticut, Non-binary character, Trans Agent South Dakota, Trans Agent Washington, Trans Female Character, Trans Male Character, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-15
Updated: 2017-03-15
Packaged: 2018-10-05 20:54:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10316780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autisticblueteam/pseuds/autisticblueteam
Summary: Still finding his feet among his new teammates, there's some things that Wash has been waiting for the right time to bring up. Or well, that was the plan. His lack of filter has other ideas.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired to write some Good Trans Content by Agendermaine's fics [Showers](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10074869) and [Twin Scars](http://archiveofourown.org/works/10070384), especially the latter in the case of this fic, I sorta asked for a prompt and this is what came of it!

“Hey, Wash?”

Wash glanced back over his shoulder at Connie, half-way through wriggling his way out of his undersuit. It caught a little on the light tank he wore under it, and he huffed as he tugged it free, “Yeah?”

“You did good out there today,” She said, smiling at him. She was sat on the bench in front of her locker, running a comb through the long side of her hair; it was still wet, she’d not long come out of the shower. Wash had deliberately dragged out the process of removing his armour, dodging any questions about why he wasn’t joining her. Communal showers, and all. “Really had my back when I needed it.”

“Oh, uhm, no problem,” Wash said, throwing her a smile in return. And then he cursed internally, hoping that didn’t sound too awkward. He was still relatively new to the team and, whilst Connie was quickly becoming one of his best friends here at the project after Maine, he was still finding his feet. “I mean, shit, thanks. Too. Thank you.”

Connie giggled under her breath, “I know what you meant, don’t worry.” Putting down her comb she let her fingers slide through her hair, separating it out and starting to braid it. “But anyway, something that you said out there in the field today reminded me of something I needed to tell you.”

“Yeah?” A new bundle of nervous thoughts pushed their way to the front of his mind, and he fought to ignore them as he finally peeled off his undersuit. He was quick to pull on his sweats after that, the baggy material hanging loosely on his hips. He untucked his tank.

“It’s just a heads up for future reference, but, well− I’m not a girl,” Connie said, a hair tie snapping tight around the end of her braid. Wash’s eyes widened, his gaze intently on his locker. His first thought was: _oh_ , right, he had referred to her as a girl offhandedly earlier. His second thought was more along the lines of incoherent screaming, that could be roughly translated as ‘holy fucking shit I’m not alone’. “I didn’t realise I hadn’t told you yet, because everyone else already knows. So I kinda just didn’t think about it? But I’m non-binary. I still use she pronouns, most of the time, though. I’m just not a strictly a girl.”

“Me either!” Wait, no. “Shit, wait, I mean− Obviously I’m not, a girl, I mean. Um. Fuck. I didn’t say that right at all.”

Connie raised a brow, quirked an amused smile, “Use your words, Wash.”

“Right.” He was becoming known for muddling his words, it was a little embarrassing. But when he got excited, any kind of emotional really, they just sort of− mixed themselves up, didn’t come out right. So he took a deep breath, tugged at the drawstring of his sweats; the twang caused by the tension was satisfying. “I mean− I’m trans. A trans guy.”

“Oh!” Connie’s face lit up, her smile spreading into a grin. She bounced a little on the spot, stood on her toes, and her arms swung slightly at her sides. “Oh oh oh! That’s why you don’t shower with everyone else, oh!”

Wash chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, “Heh, yeah. Pretty much. I uh, wasn’t sure how everyone would take it, I guess? And y’know,” he coughed, lowered his voice a little, “dysphoria.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it. No one on the team cares, promise,” Connie said, nudging him. “Believe me, if they did, I don’t think they’d be on the team anymore. In South’s words, she’d ‘shove their head so far up their own ass that they could see sunlight’. Which… doesn’t even make that much sense, now that I think about it, but I think it got her message across.”

“Yeah, that sure sounds like South,” Wash said, chuckling a little. When Connie raised a brow again, lips curling into an amused smirk, he re-considered what she’d just said and− “Wait wait wait, are you saying−?”

“Yep.”

“Holy shit.”

That made Connie laugh, muffling the sound behind the back of her hand. Wash felt heat rise to his cheeks, making his face flush pink. If anything that seemed to make Connie laugh more, the bright sound completing the cycle by making Wash’s blush deepen. Connie pushed up higher on her tip toes and ruffled his hair, something she’d _definitely_ picked up from Maine, and Wash batted playfully at the hand.

“You’re not alone on the team, like, at all. I mean, you obviously know about Maine, right?” Connie said, risking another bat at her hand to brush Wash’s hair out of his face.

“Well, yeah,” Wash said, shrugging a little. He dropped onto the bench with a thud, started to fiddle with the drawstrings again; he twisted them around his fingers, tied them in loose knots, and so on. “They know about me, too. Kinda hard to hide when you share a room.”

“So there’s me, Maine, South− Florida’s non-binary too. That makes five of us!” Connie said, plopping down on the floor in front of him. Wash chuckled, nudging the side of her head with his foot.

“We’ve got the cis outnumbered, huh?” He said. Connie’s face lit up again, this time with a slightly mischievous look in her eye.

“We _do_. Oh South’s going to get a kick out of this,” She said, grinning. Then, as an afterthought, “Not that I’m gonna tell her! Y’know, until you tell everyone. But when or if you do.”

“I know what you meant.” Wash nudged the side of her head again, and she batted at his foot with a pout. He smiled, relaxed; this was okay. This was _good_. “Eventually. Soon, maybe. I’m glad you know now, I mean− You and Maine. You’re my two best friends here.”

“Aww, why thank you Wash,” Her grin became fond, and she rocked back and forth slightly, holding her feet. “Glad we can make you feel welcome. Hey, y’know, if I sat on your shoulders then together we’d nearly make a full Maine.”

Wash chuckled, “Almost.”

“ _Almost_. I can stand on their shoulders and get into the rafters of the rec room and some training rooms, you know that? Made for some _amazing_ pranks.” Slowly coming to a stop, she uncrossed her legs and hopped up to her feet. She made sure to ruffle Wash’s hair again before turning back to her locker.

“Now that I have to see.”

Connie glanced back at him, winked, “I’m sure that can be arranged.”

Wash laughed, shaking his head and standing up. There was a moment of comfortable silence as both rummaged around in their lockers, putting things away and grabbing things they’d stowed there before the mission. It was interrupted, eventually, by Connie’s locker swinging closed and her speaking up.

“Hey, if you want, I can keep watch so you can have a shower,” She suggested, shrugging a little. “It can’t be nice, stewing in post-mission sweat all day.”

“I−” Wash hesitated, biting down on the inside of his cheek. Chewing a little, and briefly wishing he’d got his chew on hand, he spent a moment thinking before− “…that’d be nice, actually.”

Connie beamed.

 

A little over a week later, Wash found himself running a mission with Connie, South and Carolina. It was routine enough, simple compound infiltration. Connie was there to get them in; South was her back up; Carolina was leading the team; and Wash was− well, honestly he wasn’t quite sure what he was, Carolina’s back up? Did she even need back up?

Anyway, the mission was going fine. Connie and South moved on ahead to eliminate any locked doors or other obstacles whilst Carolina and Wash hung back, keeping to the shadows. If all things went to plan, then Connie would get herself and South into the target area without Carolina and Wash needing to come any further into the compound. Then it was only a matter of clearing an LZ, which they could do before Connie and South made it back with no problem. Simple, really.

Of course, the second you dare to think a mission is going to be simple, something goes wrong.

_[We’re pinned down.]_ South’s message appeared on their HUDs moments after the radios went silent. _[Not seen. Can’t move w/out being seen tho.]_

“Dammit,” Carolina cursed, pulling up the map of the complex. Two blips marked Connie and South’s positions, barely 100 metres away from the target. She typed at the same time a she talked to Wash, “If we can cause a distraction on the other side of the target, we _might_ be able to draw them away from Connie and South.”

“ _Might_ ,” Wash said, gripping his rifle a little tighter. “Only might?”

Carolina somehow managed to look amused, something in the way she cocked her head, “It’ll work, rookie.”

“Is this that improvising thing Connie keeps warning me about?” He had no idea how he felt so comfortable bantering with his CO like this, but he guessed it had something to do with how he’d definitely seen her using that chew he gave her after his first mission with the full team.

“Oh no, don’t worry, you’ll know when _that_ happens.”

Well now, wasn’t that reassuring.

They had to move fast; South and Connie wouldn’t be able to stay hidden indefinitely, eventually someone would stumble across their position. Following side passages to circumvent the target room, they made their way around. It didn’t take long, but right before they reached the other side, Carolina stopped and ducked into cover.

“Boss?” Wash said, peering around their cover to keep a look out. “What’s happening?”

“Hold on a moment, I’m getting a transmission from command.”

If you asked Wash what came over him in that moment, he honestly wouldn’t have the answer. Willed by some unknown force, he opened his big mouth and−

“Yeah, well I’m on a trans mission and we need to get going, so hurry up.”

−was what came out.

The beat of silence that followed felt hours long; the slow turn of Carolina’s head back to him was agonising; and Wash was pretty sure that if the ground opened up and swallowed him right now he’d gladly accept the sweet embrace of death.

And then a spluttering sound came over the radio, quickly followed by hysterical laughter.

“ _Holy fucking shit did− did the rookie just−_ ” Apparently unable to finish her sentence, South burst into another round of laughter interspersed with snorts and failed attempts to muffle herself. In the background, Connie was heard halfway between laughing and trying to get South to shush, though it wasn’t long before the latter was replaced by the sounds of reloading guns and grabbing knives. “ _Position− Position compromised, fucking− holy shit, rookie, holy fucking_ shit _._ ”

“I− I didn’t−” He shut his mouth, before he could say anything else he’d regret. His face was on _fire_.

“ _I have to say, Wash, that’s a hell of a way to come out to more people_ ,” Connie added, a grin in her tone. Wash’s face got hotter. “ _I think you’ve broken South._ ”

On cue, there was another burst of pitifully muffled laughter. Even as gunshots filled the air.

“It wasn’t even that funny!” Wash said, voice raising an octave or two. “That was like− the worst pun _ever_ , of all time!”

“ _Rookie you just−_ ” a snort, “ _−fucking came out with a fucking_ pun _, in the middle of a fucking_ mission− _this is fucking hilarious. You totally fucking one-upped me._ ”

“You also revealed your position,” Carolina said (“ _Worth it!_ ”) making Wash all but jump out of his skin. He held his breath, looking for some sign of how she felt about what had just happened− and then she chuckled. “Wash, _never_ tell me to hurry up like that again. But that _was_ pretty funny.”

Wash chuckled awkwardly.

“ _Okay so, we do still sorta need back-up now, especially because South’s laughing is really messing up her shots._ ” She paused, “ _Though, actually, I think it’s also really confusing the hostiles._ ”

Carolina shook her head, “We’re on our way.”

 

“That was totally fucking worth getting shot.”

“You have a very twisted set of priorities,” Carolina said, glancing at South out of the corner of her eye as she de-suited. South shrugged, leaning back against her locker. She was already out of her suit, the wound left by the glancing bullet covered by gauze padding.

“Hey Wash, you recovered yet?” Connie said. She muffled a giggle behind her hand at the sight of Wash with his head in his hands. “Waaash?”

“Almost.” He inhaled, exhaled, then raised his head. The red in his cheeks had refused to fade, despite the time that had passed since the incident. “I can’t believe I did that.”

“Rookie, it was fucking hilarious. I mean, it was a fucking _terrible_ joke, but it was fucking hilarious,” South said, arms behind her head. “Somehow I think you fucking beat how I came out to everyone, asshole.”

“…How was that?”

“By calling us cocksuckers and promising to throw us out of the back of a Pelican if we said a thing,” Carolina said, chuckling. “Left quite the impression. Especially since Agent West had fallen out of a Pelican bay the week before.”

“…What?”

South nodded with exaggerated graveness, “Never found her.”

“You two are terrible,” Connie said with a roll of her eyes. Though she was still smiling. “They found her, you literally saw her last week with the lower squads Wash, don’t worry. But yeah, it did leave _quite_ the impression.”

“What did?” A voice came, catching everyone’s attention. Looking towards the doors, they saw the most of the remainder of the team−North, York and Maine−coming in from the direction of the training halls. York had spoken.

“South’s speech about throwing us out of a Pelican,” Carolina said without missing a beat.

“Oooh, that.” They spread out to their respective lockers, Maine ruffling Wash’s hair on their way past, and there was a moment before York paused and spoke again. “Wait, why are you talking about that?”

“Holy fuck, you will not belie−” A hand covered South’s mouth, and Connie looked to Wash. Tilting her head, she hoped the silent question got across. Wash found his teeth gnawing on the inside of his cheek, but he nodded anyway. He had no reason to be nervous now, right?

When the hand fell away, South continued as if nothing had happened, “−ve what the rookie pulled in the field. You think how _I_ announced my shit to everyone was fucking something? This little fucker made a _trans pun_! Not even a fucking good one! He just heard fucking ‘transmission’ and ran with it!”

All eyes fell on Wash, and Wash chuckled awkwardly. Again.

“Heh. It just− slipped out?”

Maine stopped what they were doing as their shoulders began to shake, a low, rumbling laughter coming from deep in their chest. Wash’s cheeks darkened another several shades, and he elbowed them in the hip in a half-hearted defence. All that did was earn him a hair ruffle, to which he scrunched up his face.

“You know what? I’m not even surprised. Of course the nerd rookie comes out via a ridiculous joke. Of course he does,” York said, shaking his head with a laugh. “You fit right in kid. Ridiculous shit like that is the norm here, y’know. Wanna know what I did?”

Maine started to laugh harder.

York tossed a stress ball from his locker at their head, “I greeted Maine in the locker room with ‘so, d’you come here often?’ First day here.”

“He has a type,” North threw in, pulling a fresh shirt over his head.

“Do not.”

“Oh you do, shut up.” Connie grabbed the ball from the floor and tossed it back at York. “People who can kick your ass.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” York said, nose in the air. The ball smacked him right in the forehead. “Ow.”

“There’s no way that hurt.”

As the banter passed back and forth, Wash found himself starting to relax. His face was still burning hot−he’d never been so embarrassed in his _life_ −but this was… nice. It felt safe. No bad comments. No intrusive questions. Just a bunch of people with the same terrible, gay sense of humour. He was far, far from alone.

“I made an ‘I can’t think straight’ joke,” Carolina said, wriggling her way into her sweats. Closing her locker, she turned to Wash with her arms folded. “Don’t worry, Wash. You fit right in.”

“Yeah, guess I do,” Wash said. Teeth catching his cheek, he took a moment to consider his words. “I’m… glad everyone knows now, actually. It’s a real weight off my chest.”

Almost immediately, the entire room _groaned_.

“Wash, _no_.”

“That was just bad.”

Maine shoved his head.

Wash grinned.


End file.
